As a part of our heed to raise awareness of all views having to do with preserving the Earth, the Courier will be composing a series of articles to raise awareness of Green Issues.

The soala is one of the rarest large animals on earth and is the sole species of genus of bovids. Living in the Annamite Mountains of Loas and Vietnam, they resemble the oryxes, (antelopes of Africa and the Arabian Penninsula) and are close relatives with cattle and buffaloes.

Due to their hiding in the solitary habitat of deep and primary forests, it is very rare to catch a glimpse of these beautiful creatures. This makes the exact percentage of the soala population hard to calculate, and zoologists predict that the total population numbers may be down to the tens.

Given that there are none in captivity, the soala is the world’s most endangered land animal—at a higher risk than tigers, elephants, and rhinos.

Their struggle is also caused by commercial snaring to supply the wild meat trade.

The Working Group, along with the assistance of the Vietnam and Laos PDR government are pushing towards establishing a captive breeding program to restore balance to male and female saolas and to increase population of the soala.

One way to help further with the establishment of this program is to raise funding that goes towards donations. For more information on how to help, visit Soala Working Group’s articles on the soala, and Conservation Job’s article, How to save the Soala.